May 12

Reading 1 - Deu 29

"The principles of the Covenant, including the benefits of
obeying and the penalties of breaking it, have been already set forth by Moses
to the ecclesia as it stood on the eve of entering their promised inheritance.
There only remains the formal endorsement of it by the people. It is that act,
and the accompaniments to it, that are the subject of Deu 29; 30. Its leading
elements are thus repeated in brief: (a) Deu 29:1-9 answers to the historical
prologue in Deu 1:6; 4:49. (b) Deu 29:16-29 answers to the sanctions of Deu
28:1-68. (c) Deu 30:8,10-14 alludes to the stipulations of the covenant embodied
in Deu 5:1 to Deu 26:19. (d) Finally, Deu 30:15-20 contains the summons to the
oath of confirmation and the invocation of witnesses.

The people exhorted to keep
the covenant on the grounds of personal experience: vv 2-9.

All of Israel
of every age involved: vv 10-13.

It extends even to the unborn: vv 14-15.

Punishment resulting from breaking the covenants: vv 16-29.

"The Mosaic Covenant was designed to prepare the nation for
the greater Covenant established in Yahshua, and provides the basis for
individual spiritual development" (GE Mansfield).

Reading 2 - Isa 1:11

"The multitude of your sacrifices -- what are they to me?"
says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat
of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and
goats" (Isa 1:11).

"The people of God are come to a sorry pass when they have a
mind to give more attention to the forms of their religion than its inner
meaning. The multitude of sacrifices had ceased to be rejoiced in as a medium by
which God's merciful forgiveness was received. Instead, they had become a kind
of bribe to the Almighty as a way of bespeaking His favour and help in
emergency" (Harry Whittaker, "Isaiah" 95).

Reading 3 - Acts 27:27

"On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the
Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land"
(Act 27:27).

"The long talk of the Lord's coming will end in the event
itself, and that end is close upon us, though how close we cannot exactly say.
The great prophetic periods are nearly all elapsed; and the tokens are visible
on every hand to the eyes able to see, but the exact place in the latter-day
programme at which the Lord appears to His house is unknown. We are like a ship
at the end of a long voyage. We have travelled the great ocean for many months,
letting the months stand for centuries that have passed since Christ's
departure. We know by the general reckonings that we are not far from land; and
our conclusion on this head is confirmed by the altered appearance of the sea,
the shallowness of the soundings, the land-mists on the horizon, and certain
other tokens in the shape of birds, seaweed, etc. But exactly how many miles we
are from port, we do not know. We know we are sufficiently near that the pilots
may come in sight at any moment" (Robert Roberts).